Gag Order Imposed On Lawyers At Gray Trial

Credit: Baltimore Police
The six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

Credit: Baltimore City Police
Officer Caesar Goodson is the only defendant who did not give a statement of police investigators.

Credit: Baltimore City Police
Sgt. Alicia White gave two interviews to police investigators. A judge has ruled those statements can be sued at her trial.

Credit: AP/Baltimore Sun Photo
Lt. Brian W. Rice, third from left, arrives at a side door, for a court appearance on Tuesday

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams is imposing a gag order on prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Freddie Gray case.

"I do not want you discussing my orders with anyone...except your clients and your experts," Williams told lawyers at the end of today's proceedings.

A formal order was expected to be filed Tuesday night.

It is not clear which attorneys the judge may have been targeting in issuing the order, but it came after attorneys for Officer William Porter asked the judge to force the state to turn over further evidence the case.

The judge did that. Porter himself did grant an interview to the Washington Post last month, and is set to go on trial at the end of next month.

Motions hearings scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed.

Judge Williams is giving the prosecution until October 28 to turn over evidence, including statements from Dontae Allen, who was transported in the same van a Gray, and who claimed he saw Gray move.

Allen is now in federal custody in New York

The judge will allow statements that five of the six officers gave police to be admitted as evidence at the officers' trials.

Judge Williams this afternoon, rejected a defense motion filed by the attorney for Officer William Porter, to suppress the statement.

The judge ruled that Porter's statement was voluntary and did not violate his rights under the U.S. Constitution or Maryland's Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.

That decision was handed down hours after the judge rejected a similar request, by the attorneys for Sgt. Alicia White.

Attorneys for Lt. Brian Rice and Officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero withdrew their requests to have their clients' statements suppressed.

White was interviewed by members of the police department's Force Investigation Team (FIT) on the day Gray was arrested, April 12, and then on April 17.

Judge Williams ruled in both statements, White was informed that she was a witness, and her statement was voluntary, and she was free to leave the interview room at any time.

The defense claimed that White's job was threatened if she did not cooperate.

Judge Williams said there was no evidence of that.

Both interviews were recorded on video.

Video of the April 17 interview was show in court today, showing White signing a form waiving her constitutional rights.

"There were inconsistencies," Teel testified before she was interrupted by a defense objection.

That led to a bench conference with the judge, who then supported the objection.

Responding to a defense argument that White was unaware of her rights,, Deputy State's Attorney Janice Bledsoe called that argument "incredulous."

At one point Judge Williams ordered White's lawyer to "be quiet" when he tried to interrupt Bledsoe's questioning of Sgt. Tashawna Gaines, who was the supervisor of the two detectives who interviewed White.

Testifying for the defense, Gaines noted she had a conversation with White before her first interview, but she took no notes, and did not document the conversation.

Gray, died in April a week after he was arrested.

His death led to riots in the city.

Today's hearing marked the first time all six officers are in court.

All six arrived in a black van just after 8:30, and entered Courthouse East through a side entrance surrounded by sheriff's deputies.

Officer William Porter did not come to court with the other five accused officers at a scheduling hearing last month.

None of the officers spoke to reporters as they entered the courthouse.

Judge Barry Williams has scheduled two days of motions hearings, but hasn't said which motions he will consider, and when he'll consider them.

The judge must also consider a motion filed by the three white officers who chased Gray, arrested him, and loaded him into a police transport van on April 12.

That motion is filed by the attorneys for Lt. Brian Rice, Officer Edward Nero and Officer Garret Miller.

The officers are asking that the reckless endangerment charge be dropped.

Their attorneys say that charge was based on failing to put a seat belt on Gray, and they argue that is not a crime.

On two separate occasions, Williams has rejected a request to move the trials out of Baltimore City, due to extensive pre-trial publicity.

The judge has also rejected a defense request to dismiss the charges and remove State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby from the case.